With MMA-to-boxing transition, Mauro Ranallo working on 'less is more' approach

Mauro Ranallo has no shortage of fans. But he’s always been quick to admit he has his fair share of critics.

In his line of work as a combat sports play-by-play man, that’s only natural. But Ranallo – the self-proclaimed “Bipolar Rock N’ Roller” – takes the constructive criticism to heart. And perhaps now more than ever before, he’s applying it to his work.

This past Saturday, Ranallo, the former MMA play-by-play voice for Showtime best known for his work there on Strikeforce events, as well as his work in Japan calling PRIDE fights, continued his transition into boxing when he called the Floyd Mayweather-Robert Guerrero fight for Showtime Sports.

He acknowledged the amount of pressure when he thinks about history looking back on a “Money” Mayweather title fight and hearing his voice on the call. And it is that pressure that keeps him working at those constant improvements.

“There absolutely is a lot of pressure, and anyone who knows me knows there’s no bigger critic, no more force of pressure on me than myself,” Ranallo on Monday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “For me, from Day 1, when I was 16 years old to now being a 43-year-old combat sports broadcaster, not a day goes by that I don’t do as much research as I can on everything that interests me. That’s a wide variety of subjects. I know I’m not going to come across as sympathetic to anyone because these are tough times we’re living in and I know just how tough of a struggle it is for a lot of people, but for yours truly, I live, eat and breathe what I do. I’m the luckiest man in the world. I know that. But I also know how much passion, how much preparation and how much love I put into each and every broadcast that I do. I hope it comes across.”

His passion never has been at issue – and that same passion has been the source of much of the criticism, constructive or otherwise, that has been lobbed his way.

And that’s where Ranallo said he’s utilizing some of that advice and seeing how it plays out in the boxing world. It may have been evident on Saturday in the Mayweather-Guerrero fight, a unanimous decision win for Mayweather that had some fans critical that the champ didn’t go after a highlight-reel finish. He won 117-111 on all three judges’ scorecards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, winning nine rounds to Guerrero’s three.

Without the same level of intensity as many times was there in fights Ranallo would call in the MMA world, he started to take some of those rein-it-in lessons to heart.

“I still feel that I have to make a lot of adjustments,” he said. “And that’s one of the things that people have loved and criticized me about. I understand where people come from who aren’t exactly fans of my work. It’s a subjective thing. But with MMA and boxing, there are so many differences. With boxing, the peaks and the valleys, there’s rhythm, there’s nuances, there’s subtlety, and at the end of the day, less is more. And I’m still working on that – let the fight breathe, let the punches resonate with the audience at home.

“But when it comes to the action itself, I get excited.”

It was former CBS sportscaster Gus Johnson, though, who once gave Ranallo a tip that sticks with him still today. In Strikeforce’s short-lived run with CBS, Johnson and Ranallo shared time at cageside.

“I’ll tell you this much – Gus Johnson may have given me the best advice that I’ve ever been given by anyone: ‘You know, Mauro, you have all the tools. Take a few miles off the fastball,'” Ranallo recalled. “And I’m working on that.”

Ranallo’s regular MMA work for Showtime came to an end when Strikeforce shut its doors following its January finale card. He continues to call MMA fights, though, with work for Invicta Fighting Championships. With the UFC’s broadcast teams firmly in place, and AXS TV with its own regular crew, the MMA opportunities for Ranallo now are fewer and farther between.

But he’s not closing the door on anything when it comes to the sport – not even when it comes to the potential for Showtime to one day be in the MMA broadcast business again. And his weekly podcast, “The Show with Mauro Ranallo,” keeps him always with a hand in MMA, as well as pro wrestling and boxing.

“Boxing is keeping me very busy,” he said. “I still keep a very close eye on mixed martial arts – I follow it as much as I ever have because of my weekly responsibilities and because I’m a fan first and foremost. I’m blessed to do Invicta, but what else is there? I’m grateful boxing is keeping me busy in the play-by-play chair, and I’m happy to be doing what I’m doing in the limited role in mixed martial arts, but I’m always open to new challenges – and maybe outside of combat sports. … I do miss mixed martial arts at the highest level, and dare I say Stephen Espinoza, the man in charge at Showtime Sports, I think he misses mixed martial arts at the highest level. The door has not been shut. I’m not trying to give false hope or build a cliffhanger here, but who knows what the future of MMA is on Showtime? I would not say it’ll never happen again.”

And if that day comes, Ranallo will no doubt be first in line for a chance to be back on the call.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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